“Modern Times is facing a financial crisis and urgently needs an influx of cash if we are going to be able to pay our bills through the summer,” the letter reads. “The cold, hard economic facts are these: We need to sell a certain amount everyday in order to break even on costs – taxes, rent, payroll, utilities, insurance, and new books – and right now we are not doing this.”

Over the last decade, the Mission’s independent bookstores, many of which have been here for decades, have struggled against one new competitor after another, including mega-bookstores, online sales and now e-books.